When I was 5 my parents were the smartest people in the world. They knew everything that helped me survive and have fun, too. My Dad took us to the Shore every summer and I loved the Shore (still do). When I was about 8 I started to see they didn't know everything. My Dad had some troubles and argued with my Mom who thought her job was to "pull him up by the bootstraps". Nothing too out of the ordinary when I think back on it but a few of their scenes definitely shook my world. Thank goodness for my older brother because I knew if my parents were distracted and stressed, he would have my back. In my teens, my parents became down right ignorant. They were old-fashioned and had bad habits. What hypocrites, I thought, they didn't really care what I did! Then, when I was in my 20's I left home to see the world (southern U.S., anyway). It wasn't until I got married and raised a family that I finally started to see what they went through all those years I was growing up. They were young when I was 5 and happy to be fulfilling their dream of a family. They were really feeling the pressures when I was 8 and life was overwhelming them by the time I was a teen. As a kid I had no experience and, therefore, no empathy for what they were going through. I'm glad I stopped blaming them for all my troubles when I became an adult because they didn't deserve that. My parents did the best they could with what they had and when I look at myself today, I thank them because they were huge contributors to who I am now. Love, Deb B.